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Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford on gamer criticism: 'some people are sadists'

S

SolidChamp

Banned
RK128 said:
I guess Pitchford is a man who cannot take criticism but unlike a similar case (Digital Homicide), Pitchford leads his team into make mostly good/great games (Borderlands series for example) but when he makes bad ones (Ailens CM, Duke Nukem Forever), he cannot understand that they are 'bad'; he thinks they are great games despite the fact they are not great games.
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Whenever Randy is asked about the objectively bad state of Duke Nukem or A:CM, he always, ALWAYS cops out with the excuse that "No one can be expected to remain objective about the content they are involved with." Which is a complete load of horseshit. You have game developers and filmmakers going on record all the time about how they regret this game or that movie they made, or even how they wish certain aspects of something they made were way better.

Exhibit A: This twitter exchange I had with him back in May of last year when he was self-fellating over the fact that John Carpenter called Borderlands 2 "The best game on the face of the earth." https://twitter.com/duvalmagic/status/465887910060097538

Which is fine for John Carpenter, opinions being what they are, but Randy often uses praise as justification for a lot of the shit he's pulled, and allows said praise to delude and inflate his own ego even further.

He is incapable of seeing fault in what he does. He is incapable of accepting criticism or pointing out SPECIFIC areas in which they could have done a lot fucking better. His refusal to acknowledge the shortcomings of A:CM and Duke Nukem are baffling, compounded further by the fact that he couldn't even be respectful enough to a fellow developer's work (which was critically lauded to no end by the industry) by playing past the two fucking hour mark? Two hours, really?? That's the kind of respect he has for the industry he works in? He passes judgement on TLOU without even fucking finishing it?

That tells me something about Randy. It tells me he is deeply insecure, and is in great denial about the shoddy turds his company has been churning out as of late. It tells me that, when faced with a true product of greatness that rightfully earned every single one of it's accolades, he absolutely has to look in the other direction. The fact that he couldn't be bothered to give the game more than two hours tells me he's jealous that there are other people out there who do it ten times better than he does.

He can't accept that his company fucked up. He can't accept that they may have actually shitted out two of the worst games to come along in some time, and he's salty as fuck that it wasn't one of his games winning the 100's of awards that TLOU did.

So sure, he'll take some hyperbole from John Carpenter to help him feel better about his day.
 
Jumpman

Jumpman

Member
“I didn’t buy the franchise to ensure we could all play Duke Nukem Forever,” he joked, referencing the critically mauled title.
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Why's Randy gotta destroy the Duke Nukem Forever sand castle? What a dirty sadist.
 
P

Psychoward

Banned
Ugh, I really liked him before Borderlands 2 dropped, seemed very personable and interested in the games he was making. Now I can't trust a word the guy says, oh well.
 
S

Slaythe

Member
BreezyLimbo said:
I

what have Islamists got to do with anything? Was he trying to say ISIS?

I mean holy shit this guy
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He used religion as an example of people refusing to accept they could be wrong. And that recently people go as far as to kill those who disagree. He said they have normal minds and that it's easy to manipulate the human mind,that we are all victims of flawed reasoning.

Watch the video it's just mind blowing.

Dude has no clue.
 
E

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
SolidChamp said:
Whenever Randy is asked about the objectively bad state of Duke Nukem or A:CM, he always, ALWAYS cops out with the excuse that "No one can be expected to remain objective about the content they are involved with." Which is a complete load of horseshit. You have game developers and filmmakers going on record all the time about how they regret this game or that movie they made, or even how they wish certain aspects of something they made were way better.
Click to expand...

Irony being Randy's role on most Gearbox projects is that of Executive Producer. It's literally his job title to oversee project quality and at least attempt a modicum of objectivity. "I can't tell the game is bad because I worked on it" means you're not fit to be a producer.
 
B

BreezyLimbo

Banned
Slaythe said:
He used religion as an example of people refusing to accept they could be wrong. And that recently people go as far as to kill those who disagree. He said they have normal minds and that it's easy to manipulate the human mind,that we are all victims of flawed reasoning.

Watch the video it's just mind blowing.

Dude has no clue.
Click to expand...

......wooooooooooooooooooow.

Woooooooooow.

I'm just.

I really can't respond to that. Like holy shit dudes head is so far up his ass.
 
I

Imperfected

Member
EatChildren said:
Irony being Randy's role on most Gearbox projects is that of Executive Producer. It's literally his job title to oversee project quality and at least attempt a modicum of objectivity. "I can't tell the game is bad because I worked on it" means you're not fit to be a producer.
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I feel like if he wasn't the one responsible he'd have no problem saying the games are terrible and blaming everyone and anyone, but since the buck really does stop with him he's completely incapable of accepting it. He tries to pass it off as an inability to think ill of his "team", but it's actually that he can't admit his own failure.

I mean, he's had no real problems pointing fingers in general. The one time he had someone higher up the ladder to point his finger at (SEGA) he was only too happy to do so. He just isn't able to be personally accountable, which is another one of those things an executive producer (and CEO, for that matter) are supposed to specifically be there for.
 
S

SolidChamp

Banned
EatChildren said:
Irony being Randy's role on most Gearbox projects is that of Executive Producer. It's literally his job title to oversee project quality and at least attempt a modicum of objectivity. "I can't tell the game is bad because I worked on it" means you're not fit to be a producer.
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This is the best possible response I could have hoped for. Brilliant.
 
Monocle

Monocle

Member
I appreciate sadists because they create intense experiences for other people. Even if you're inflicting terrible pain and anguish, the bottom line is that you're affecting someone. And that's beautiful.
 
A

Alienous

Member
Here's a great article on Gearbox's actions and it doesn't even lambast them for Duke Nukem: Forever.

I don't know if there's some unspoken rule in magic akin to "Don't acknowledge when a trick goes bad" but Pitchford should consider cutting the shit for the benefit of the studio. Shifty things have been done by Gearbox and it's about time they owe up to that, without resorting to a "greasy hamburger" analogy.
 
W

Wanderer5

Member
Title Fight said:
“You may know us from such quality games as James Bond Nightfire and Aliens Colonial Marines,”

Stopped reading.
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Was going to defend Nightfire, but then realized that they only worked on the PC version which seem quite inferior compare to the console versions.:p

Why say those two and not Borderlands and Brothers in Arms lol? Seriously what is up with that comment, why would he not list down their more acclaimed series? Am I missing something? Then again given who it is....
 
M

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
jaundicejuice said:
That vertical slice existed, it was the limited build they used to pitch "the spiritual successor to Aliens" to customers through the press. A lot of those same environment assets showed up in Time Gate's version of the game but that's about the extent of it.
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I suppose it depends on how you define 'vertical slice'. As far as I was aware this was never actually a playable build.
 
P

pslayer666

Member
I dunno, but every time this guy talks makes me want to buy Gearbox products less and less.

I love Borderlands and shit, but not that much to just stop giving a flying fuck from now on.
 
F

Fleshfeast

Member
Wanderer5 said:
Was going to defend Nightfire, but then realized that they only worked on the PC version which seem quite inferior compare to the console versions.:p

Why say those two and not Borderlands and Brothers in Arms lol? Seriously what is up with that comment, why would he not list down their more acclaimed series? Am I missing something? Then again given who it is....
Click to expand...

He's specifically addressing gamers being critical, so he listed games that have received criticism. It's not a statement saying, "we're great, see, we made these games!" It's more like, "we've made some poor games", as a way to lead into the topic of them being criticized.

Not that I don't think he deserves some negative attention, I just think the intention of this particular statement is being misinterpreted.
 
D

Dr_Boris_Goltz

Banned
Randy Pitchford needs to remove his face from everything Gearbox. He alone makes me not want to purchase their products and there's no way I'm the sole owner of such an attitude.
 
S

sbkodama

Member
At this point I can't say if he is a liar or if he really can't understand.
Expectations from average gamers aren't that high but if he think that colonial marine is great his expectations are even more low, and I don't wonder who has a less sophisticated mind here.
 
C

Clefargle

Member
No, no

There is nothing wrong with my game,

It's the people playing it...

Yeah, that's right, something is wrong in their heads...

Yeah
 
I

Intheflorsh

Banned
Does this guy realize he's provoking and prolonging the righteous fury when he makes these kinds of statements? His lack of PR training is embarrassing to witness.

Randy, if you really can't bring yourself to make some pithy apology, then, for your own sake, shut up!
 
S

SuperInuit

Member
SolidChamp said:
So sure, he'll take some hyperbole from John Carpenter to help him feel better about his day.
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While I agree he does come across as a deeply insecure man, come on. If John Carpenter praised something I worked on to that level, I'd be fucking ecstatic.

But, just when I think maybe people should cut him a break once in a while, he says shit like comparing criticism to ISIS.
 
S

SolidChamp

Banned
SuperInuit said:
While I agree he does come across as a deeply insecure man, come on. If John Carpenter praised something I worked on to that level, I'd be fucking ecstatic.
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I'm not saying he shouldn't feel proud of the fact that John Carpenter really digs some of the work his studio has done. But he's the type to bring up stuff like Carpenter's hyperbolic opinion or the (highly questionable) EGM review of A:CM and say "See? I'm not wrong here, guys. The games we make are all awesome."
 
B

Bust Nak

Member
Randy Pitchford said:
We moved those people, we touched them – even the person who hates [your game] so much, you’ve affected them. That’s why we fight, we’re creating emotion and experience - and some people thrive on that type of feeling, some people are sadists.
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It's one thing to create emotion such as anger at the antagonist in your game, or anger at social issue highlighted by your game. Having people angry at your PR or the quality of your game is quite another. That's is not something to be proud of.
 
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